There were less than 20 minutes on the clock when Kelly reached down to grab her right knee, after an attempted cross off that wing was blocked. The 27-year-old tried to carry on but after playing a short pass a few seconds later, she went to ground and, once seen to by the Lionesses’ medical staff, would gingerly walk off the pitch and be replaced by Arsenal team-mate Beth Mead, ending her night very prematurely.
That it appeared to be Kelly’s right knee troubling her will be of concern to many, and of frustration for the player herself. That’s because after missing Arsenal’s game against West Ham, their second Women’s Super League fixture of the season, Kelly had visible strapping on that knee for around six weeks, until early November.
The disappearance of that support seemed to signal Kelly had come through the issue, as did her first Arsenal start for six weeks, handed to her by Gunners boss Renee Slegers just before this international break began in the win over Real Madrid. “She missed the West Ham game and a couple of training sessions but since then she’s been building back, and some things take a little bit longer than others, but she’s fully fit,” her manager said the day before that game.
While the specifics of the issue Kelly was clearly nursing remain unclear, it will not have been encouraging for anyone to see her limp off on Tuesday because of what appeared to be a problem with that same knee she has sported noticeable support on for a large portion of this season, even if the injury itself on the night didn’t come across as a bad one.
“She felt something with her knee that didn’t feel right,” England boss Sarina Wiegman said, asked about Kelly after the 2-0 win over Ghana. “She could walk but it just didn’t feel right. For her it’s sad because she had a start and she was playing and then she had to go off. Of course you want to be available at all times and you don’t want to have those niggles but that’s just the way it is now and what she has to sort out is: What is it? And just assess that and try to get back as soon as possible and get consistency. That’s what she wants too, but you have to take it as it is.”
To have to be subbed off will have been even more frustrating for Kelly because this felt like a potentially big night for her and her season. After an outstanding 2024-25 season saw her star in Arsenal’s Champions League triumph before stealing the show as the Lionesses won the 2025 European Championships, that niggling injury has prevented Kelly from really getting going in the 2025-26 campaign, as she’s only been able to make three starts so far.
To get the nod against Ghana in England’s final game of 2025, then, felt like a good platform for the winger to be able to build on that start for the Gunners just before this camp and start to generate some form and rhythm. Unfortunately, she wasn’t allowed to do so.
The good news is that Kelly’s injury didn’t appear to be particularly bad in the moment and Arsenal will hope that is a sign of it not being a knock that will keep her out for long, because the Gunners have some big games before the winter break. The reigning European champions are currently 10th in the Champions League table, six places and three points off the automatic qualification spots for the knockout stages with two games to go. Those two games come later this month, at home to Twente and away at Leuven.
There’s also two WSL fixtures on the calendar before Christmas, with Arsenal needing to rack up wins to get back into the title race after a sloppy start, and a League Cup quarter-final clash with Crystal Palace. Given all that is on the line, the Gunners will desperately hope they have Kelly, and her knack for turning up in the big moments, available to them.
